Police Chief Shoots Self For Second Time

It’s the second time that a Connersville, Indiana Police Chief shot himself while handling a firearm. Now with the release of the gun store video surveillance footage (scroll down for video), it is clear that just because someone is the chief of police doesn’t mean they are firearms experts.

The chief accidentally shot himself in the leg at a gun store, almost a year ago. But it was some time before the video emerged that showed Chief David Counceller sloppily re holstering his firearm, while shopping for a .380 handgun.

The .380 was not being purchased for use as a law enforcement officer, but he did not explain what he was considering the weapon for.

Almost unbelievably, this is not the first time that Chief Counceller has shot himself accidentally. Back in 1999 he shot himself in the hand while handling a firearm.

“I was wearing a sweatshirt and a fleece jacket. I felt it go in the holster and I pushed it, but it was tangled in the material which caused it to discharge. The bullet went into my leg and then into the floor.”

He acknowledged that the minor injury was “embarrassing.”

One of our reporters learned from a law enforcement training center in the Midwest, which wishes to remain unnamed, that “cops are often poorly trained” in the handling of firearms.

“Most have only had the range time required at the [police] academy, and they rarely shoot again after that.”

One tactical firearms instructor – himself a police veteran of decades – acknowledge that the only accidental discharge he had ever witnessed where someone shot themselves was a fellow law enforcement officer:

“We were standing right there and watched him pull the trigger – accidentally – but he swore up and down that ‘it just went off’.”

For his part, Chief Counceller said, “I’m really lucky. It doesn’t even hurt… I need to pay more attention. I know what the dangers are. It was pure carelessness on my part.”

But that’s the second of such careless discharges by the same Police Chief.

In the 1999 incident, the Chief admits, “I was working third shift as a captain. I was unloading [the gun] to take it to the gunsmith and I didn’t drop the barrel to see if there was [a bullet] in the chamber. The shot hit my hand. That one really hurt.”

Watch the following local video where reporters try to deflect the blame from the sloppy handling of firearms, blaming instead the Glock pistols.